The pathway to advanced mathematical understanding: The contribution of general and mathematical language and the home environment

IF 3.1 1区教育学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Early Childhood Research Quarterly Pub Date : 2025-08-05 DOI:10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.07.009

Karen De Keersmaeker , Patrick Onghena , Kris Van den Branden , Wim Van Dooren

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Already in the early grades of primary school children develop notions of advanced mathematical concepts such as patterning, proportional reasoning, and probabilistic reasoning. However, there are large differences among children. We examined to which extent these differences could be explained by children’s general language abilities, mathematical language abilities, and their home environment (i.e., maternal education level and home language). Data were collected in 717 first, second, and third graders who all engaged in a general language task, an advanced mathematical language task (addressing the mathematical language present in the domains of patterning, proportionality, and probability), and an advanced mathematical abilities task (addressing their reasoning in these domains). Path analysis revealed that both general language and advanced mathematical language abilities contributed to children’s advanced mathematical abilities, although advanced mathematical language abilities were more impactful than general language abilities. Children’s advanced mathematical language abilities partly mediated the relationship between general language abilities and advanced mathematical abilities. Advanced mathematical language abilities were in turn influenced by maternal education level and general language abilities. More precisely, children with more highly educated mothers and children with better general language abilities tend to have a better understanding of advanced mathematical language. Children who only spoke the instructional language at home did not perform better on the advanced mathematical language task than children with a different home language.

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通往高级数学理解的途径：通用语言和数学语言与家庭环境的贡献

在小学的早期阶段，孩子们已经形成了高级数学概念的概念，如模式、比例推理和概率推理。然而，儿童之间存在很大差异。我们研究了这些差异在多大程度上可以用儿童的一般语言能力、数学语言能力和家庭环境（即母亲的教育水平和家庭语言）来解释。研究人员收集了717名一、二、三年级学生的数据，他们都参与了一般语言任务、高级数学语言任务（解决模式、比例和概率领域的数学语言问题）和高级数学能力任务（解决他们在这些领域的推理问题）。通径分析显示，普通语言和高级数学语言能力都对儿童的高级数学能力有贡献，尽管高级数学语言能力比普通语言能力更有影响。儿童的高级数学语言能力在一定程度上中介了一般语言能力与高级数学能力之间的关系。高等数学语言能力依次受到母亲教育水平和一般语言能力的影响。更准确地说，母亲受教育程度越高的孩子和一般语言能力越强的孩子往往对高等数学语言有更好的理解。只在家里说教学语言的孩子在高级数学语言任务中的表现并不比使用不同家庭语言的孩子好。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Early Childhood Research Quarterly Multiple-

CiteScore

7.00

自引率

8.10%

发文量

109

期刊介绍： For over twenty years, Early Childhood Research Quarterly (ECRQ) has influenced the field of early childhood education and development through the publication of empirical research that meets the highest standards of scholarly and practical significance. ECRQ publishes predominantly empirical research (quantitative or qualitative methods) on issues of interest to early childhood development, theory, and educational practice (Birth through 8 years of age). The journal also occasionally publishes practitioner and/or policy perspectives, book reviews, and significant reviews of research. As an applied journal, we are interested in work that has social, policy, and educational relevance and implications and work that strengthens links between research and practice.